DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Thursday it will shift production of Ram Heavy Duty pickup trucks from Mexico to Michigan in 2020&comma; a move that lowers the risk to the automaker's profit should President Donald Trump pull the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement&period;

Fiat Chrysler said it would create 2&comma;500 jobs at a factory in Warren&comma; Michigan&comma; near Detroit&comma; where the Ram 1500 is currently built&comma; and FCA will invest &dollar;1 billion in the facility&period; The Mexican plant will be "repurposed to produce future commercial vehicles" for sale global markets&period; Mexico has free trade agreements with numerous countries&period;

Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne a year ago raised the possibility that the automaker would move production of its heavy-duty pickups to the United States&comma; saying U&period;S&period; tax and trade policy would influence the decision&period;If the United States exits NAFTA&comma; it could mean that automakers would pay a 25 percent duty on pickup trucks assembled in Mexico and shipped to the United States&period; About 90 percent of the Ram pickups made at Fiat Chrysler's Saltillo plant in Mexico are sold in the United States or Canada&comma; company officials said&period;

&NewLine;Negotiators for the United States&comma; Mexico and Canada are scheduled to meet later this month for another round of talks on revising NAFTA&period; Canadian government officials earlier this week said they are convinced that Trump intends to announce his intention to quit the agreement&period;

Trump has threatened to force the rollback of NAFTA&comma; which enables the free flow of goods made in the United States&comma; Canada and Mexico across the borders of those countries&period; He also has criticized automakers for moving jobs and investment in new manufacturing facilities to Mexico and prodded them to add more auto production in the United States&period;

Vice President Mike Pence praised Fiat Chrysler's announcement&period; "Manufacturing is back&period; Great announcement&period; Proof that this admin's AMERICA FIRST policies are WORKING&excl;" Pence said in a Twitter posting&period;

Chrysler raised its output in Mexico by 39 percent in 2017 to 639&comma;000 vehicles&comma; according to Mexican government data&period; That made Fiat Chrysler the third-largest producer of vehicles in Mexico in 2017&comma; after Nissan and General Motors&period;

The United States and Canada are the principal markets for full-size heavy-duty pickup trucks&comma; most of which are produced in the United States by FCA&comma; GM&comma; Ford&comma; Toyota and Nissan&period;

Miguel Ceballos&comma; FCA spokesman for Mexico&comma; said the company in 2018 and 2019 expects more growth in Mexico&comma; and the moment it stops producing the Ram Heavy Duty pickups it will start to produce the new commercial vehicle&comma; "which still does not have a name&comma;" Ceballos said&period;

"It is going to be for global distribution&comma; at the moment the Ram is only distributed at the level of NAFTA&comma;" he said&period;

Ceballos said there was no current plan to either reduce or grow the workforce in Mexico&period;

GM has been readying a plant in Silao&comma; Mexico&comma; to build a new generation of large pickup trucks&period;

FCA on Thursday said it also would make a special bonus payment of &dollar;2&comma;000 to about 60&comma;000 FCA hourly and salaried employees in the United States totaling about &dollar;120 million&period; Typically&comma; U&period;S&period; automakers only pay bonuses to hourly workers as part of collective bargaining agreements&period;

Reporting by Uday Sampath and Paul Lienert&period; Additional reporting by David Shepardson and Ana Isabel Martinez&period;